AristoCraft RDC-3

Unpacking:

The product packed in the typical "coffin" type box where the yellow cardboard upper half has two tabs that engage the lower half.

Inside is molded Styrofoam, the top half has a large "window" where you can see most of the car. The bottom half has no such window.

The car was not in any type of plastic sleeve to protect any paint. In my case, the Santa Fe is only painted on the end caps, the leading one is red, and the rear one is silver (different from the RDC-1 model).

Aristo put some tape inside the box on the side so as not to rub on the finish. Funny this is that you cannot figure out why the tape is where it is, it almost matches the positions of the windows, but misses one of them. There's also a high point in the box on the side that has no tape on it. Good idea, but the poor execution makes the effort worthless. You can just make out the pieces of tape in the photo below, they are the slightly darker horizontal stripes at the ends of the box.

The upper half of the 2 pieces of foam packing is open as previously mentioned, so you cannot rub the windows, but you could rub the paint on certain road names. Can't figure out the logic, but this is sort of trivial, unless the box has been handled roughly. My car had no wear markings or paint defects.

Note that the silver paint on the end cap takes fingerprints easily though!

Overall look:

The finish of the car is very nice, it is polished aluminum. The red end is well painted and detailed. The silver end, which I need to research for prototypic correnctness, fingerprints easily. I wish there was a different type of paint used. I may experiment and see if maybe some car will will help.

The next thing I noticed were the smoked windows. The windows appear to be made of 2 layers of plastic, one clear one smoked. There are air bubbles in mine between the layers, like a bad tinting job on an automobile. Many other owners have noticed the same thing. I am not impressed:

The reason I was looking the in the windows was seeing all the wire inside, and the electronics. The RDC-1 had the socket underneath in a really easy to get to place. This socket is on a circuit board in the roof and there is a huge, thick set of wires that run from the circuit board in the passenger compartment back to the "baggage" area. Why wasn't all this junk put there, where it could not be seen. In the disassembly, these wires are even more of a problem.

Very disappointing, really spoils the nice new LED lighting and having an interior. 

Adding Kadee couplers:

According to the Kadee site, the 901, 907 and 789 are recommended. There is no further information or detailed installation information.

The 901 is a centerset coupler, and the 907 is the same coupler in the 831 coupler box. These are the new "Prototype Head" couplers. The 789 is a "original style" centerset coupler in the 831 coupler box. I used the 907, you can see it is a 900 series from the picture by the"ser 900" in the casting.

Removing the stock couplers is easy, remove one screw for the long "centering spring", then remove the other screw that actually holds the coupler:

For the coupler, you need to drill a hole slightly offset in the Kadee,I "painted" the hole red in the picture below to avoid confusion. Use a drill the diameter of the original screw, about 0.1"

The coupler height comes out perfect: (well maybe a touch low, maybe I'll go back in and trim a bit from the post)

Disassembly:

First, you want to remove the end caps. One small screw on top, and 2 below.

Be sure to get the right 2 screws, the ones that go into the cap, not the 2 that have cutouts in the end cap casting.

Now remove the single small screw on top (be careful, get the right size driver):

The end caps can now be pulled away, and left to "dangle", you cannot get them completely disconnected, since they have 3 sets of wires with plugs, but one pair that are soldered on to the boards inside.

 Next, we want to remove the end "bulkheads" at each end.

Remember those 2 screws at each end, the ones "recessed"? Remove these now and the bulkheads will come out. The are the ones the screwdriver is NOT on in the picture below: 

Now you have access to the wires and connectors inside.

As luck would have it, the wires that cannot be unplugged are to those ugly "MU" plugs. Since I am track power, I clipped them off and pulled them out of the hot glue. Be careful, this new type of hot glue is very rubbery and you are likely to pull a window loose from the end caps.

 
Be sure to pay attention to which plug goes where. There is a 2 wire plug and a 3 wire plug, but later you will find another plug in the same area which can cause confusion. Unplug them and remove the tape that secures them to the sides of the shell.

Now, there are 6 small screws that hold the chassis into the shell. One is shown below: Remove all 6.

You are now at a decision point. There are 2 ways to proceed.

One way is to completely pull the unit apart. The other way is to lever apart only one end to reach the socket.

If you are only wanting to get to the socket, pull open the baggage end until you can reach inside and get to the socket.

If you want to completely pull it apart, I recommend you unscrew the 2 inner bulkheads. You can yank it apart without doing this, but it takes more force, it's easier to do this with 2 people, one holding the shell and another pulling on the chassis.

You may need to spread the sides a bit.

My advice is to remove the screws in the chassis to allow these bulkheads to remain in the shell, it makes the disassembly much easier.

To get to the screws for the 2 innner bulkheads, remove the "boxes" underneath, there is one more screw under each large box, and one screw under the air tank, and one under one of the small boxes. That's 4 more screws.

Once inside you will notice a humongous twist of 10 wires, and you need to unplug it from the main board, 4 plugs total... mark the plugs and sockets so you get it back together right! There are two 2-pin sockets, and two 3-pin sockets.

The wires go into the small white sockets on the bottom edge of the main board: (you can see some black lines on them I drew with a sharpie)

The picture below shows the board at the other end of the roof. Also, the socket for the speaker is here! 18 inches away from the "Aristo socket" in the other "half" of the shell!

The 2 pin socket at the left end labelled input is for battery power. The 3 pin socket at the upper side with nothing in it is the speaker connector. (standard Aristo-Craft pins 1 and 3 used) Should have been identified with silk screen.

Aristo 4-6-2 Pacific versions main page

Comparison to the prototype

From Davy Cormack:

The Aristo-Craft pacific is a pretty decent representation of the B&O P7 class. Just a couple of things to point out . The Aristo pacific's drivers scale out at about 72"/73" diameter while the real P7s had 80 inch drivers so the model is slightly out in this respect.Also the sand dome is the wrong shape,should be rounded-oblong not round as per the model .

Otherwise the Aristo locomotive isn't a bad representation of the P7 type as built. The Aristo tender on the other hand is not as per the tender attached to the preserved 5300 ex president Washington. I have researched this extensively ....the tender as modeled by Aristo is correct for one single tender only that was attached to 5304 early on in her life. The Aristo tender has curved bunker sides yes but is quite different from the P7.. 8 wheel tenders that received curved bunkers later in their lives. The "standard" curved bunker modifications involved the tender sides being raised substantially and the water tank rear had an enclosed walled area...the tender attached to 5303 at the museum is of this type ,if you compare it to the Aristo model you will see that it is quite different. If you look at the Aristo tender you will see that the bunker curves start at the top rivet line...this is not the case on the museum tender.
The P7s were greatly modified throughout their lives and no two members of the 21 in the class were identical latterly. All had some detail differences some, slight some major.

In short the Aristo model is a good general representation of the class but isn't accurate for any single loco at any time without modification .

Versions

There are 4 versions, the original one was designed in Korea I believe. It was designed in that time of having all the "bells and whistles", some of the G scale toys we have now.

1^st generation

1. puffing smoke with smoke from cylinders (unfortunately the bellows to puff the smoke often failed, as well as the smoke unit itself.
2. all wheel track pickups, both loco and tender (great feature)
3. plastic siderods (looked poor and can break, no replacement parts available)
4. "ok" drive mechanism with long main drive shaft and only 1^st and 3^rd drivers powered.
5. No "socket"
6. firebox lights
7. fill smoke unit from toolbox on front pilot

Summary: Unfortunately, not a very good runner/puller, drivetrain can have worm slip on shaft, smoke system not reliable, and plastic siderods could break, made in Korea

2^nd generation

1. gearbox same, but different design of drivers, how wheel is locked to axle
2. Many of the old trim pieces were used on the second version
3. The Pacific and the Mikado have the same boiler shell
4. Smoke unit updated to simple heater and fan, stack only, never great, but more reliable

Summary: a bit better, but still has many of the negatives of the 1st generation

3^rd generation (introduced 2003)

1. new type fan driven smoke unit, smoke stack only, good when it worked (see section on Aristo smoke units)
2. power pickup from drivers and 1/2 tender wheels only (not great)
3. metal siderods (but rest of valve gear is gray plastic)
4. new "prime mover" gearbox much more robust, but with attendant issues of slipping drivers
5. "aristo socket" in boiler

Summary: much better smoke unit, gearbox stouter and can find replacements for the individual modules, all drivers powered. Power pickup much worse and may require significant disassembly to improve

4th generation (2011)

1. Socket moved to tender with changes in wiring to accomodate
2. a "new" insert in the center of the drivers to help avoid the dreaded wheel slip that plagues all Aristo motive power, makes no real difference.

Apparently, there is a metal bushing pressed into the center of the wheels (before, the pot metal wheel had the taper machined into it directly). What you can see from the outside is that the screw on the axle no longer has a recess to fit into:

At this point, if you buy a Gen 1 or 2 unit, it's used, even if new in the box, there will most likely be problems. Inspect the drivetrain carefully by removing the gearbox cover. Many of these have the worm gear slide on the driveshaft.

Sub-Pages

Click the links below to go "deeper" into details on individual Aristo-Craft motive power topics

Adding weights to Aristo's GP40 for improved traction using recycled wheels

Adding weights to Aristo's GP40 for improved traction using recycled wheels
Ted Doskaris
June 28, 2010
Rev. GE-B

November 13, 2016

Rev. GE-B1, Fixed broken link

Since the Aristo GP40s I have suffered from wheel quality issues that negatively impacted their track power pickup capability, I elected to replaced them with custom made stainless steel wheels. 
For information about the wheels, see topic, 'Stainless Steel Wheels For Aristo's "Prime Mover" Diesels - A viable alternative' .

I also decided to replace all of the wheels on the other Aristo diesel locos I have that  employ the "prime mover" type gear boxes using the same wheels (SD45, Dash-9, E8) since many of the wheels on these locos exhibit worn tread plating. As a consequence, an accumulation  of these poor quality wheels has begun to build in large numbers.

So what to do with all these wheels that will build to more than 400 over time?
 
Shown below is an example Aristo Union Pacific GP40 as received with factory supplied weights that measures about 9.5 lbs.


As it turns out, the GP40 only includes two factory supplied 1 lbs rectangular shaped weights. Shown below are the two removed for the measurement.

 
So I decided to augment the weights with recycled old diesel wheels for use as added weights in the GP40.

Shown below are the two factory supplied weights located under the fuel tank shell.

Note the fuel tank is retained in chassis slots near the weights by a plastic clip located at either end of the tank. Also, the ribbing protruding within the fuel tank will impact how additional weights are best installed.

The screw that retains the weight rests with its head along with a washer on the top of the weight. Another washer is used under the nut where the screw passes through the chassis.
Shown below is the factory metric screw (about 2.5 inches long) that is used to retain the weight.


Shown in the below picture are three possible ways to retain the factory weight with the original factory screw on the top.

The hole in the factory weights and the loco chassis is much larger than any of these screws, thus allowing for moving the factory weights farther apart.  For this example loco, I chose to use the center 4-40 stainless steel screw for its strength and for ease of locating non metric nuts and threaded standoffs (subsequently discussed).

The picture below shows how the factory weights are rotated 90 degrees in an opposite, staggered arrangement.  (The hole in the weight is not centered.)  I found by rearranging the weights in this fashion provided just the right amount of distance for a slight friction fit of parallel groups of recycled wheels. I also inverted the weights to take advantage of the hole recess so the screw will have more penetration into the chassis. (This is to allow for the mounting of two additional discrete wheels.)

Each group of 7 wheels is held together by a 10-32 x 3 inch long flat head screw.
The group pair of 14 total wheels is cinched together with tie wraps.

The wheel groups are nestled in place between the repositioned factory weights.

I discovered this is the optimal way to orient the weights so the clips on the fuel tank can still be pushed in the chassis and so the wheels will clear the fuel tank's internal ribbing - otherwise the wheel flanges will interfere with the fuel tank from seating properly when reinstalled on the chassis.

It is to be appreciated that there is almost zero clearance between the wheel flanges and fuel tank once the tank is installed. For this reason I chose to use a tie warp surrounding each factory weight so as to help prevent the wheel groups from dislodging and bearing their full weight against the bottom of the installed fuel tank.


Note: I later found that two groups of 8 wheels can be installed, and the fuel tank would still envelope the whole assembly (See Appendix) so the following description about added two more wheels to the upper chassis area may not be needed unless it is desired to have yet more added weight.

The picture below shows the weight retaining screws on the upper side of the chassis.
 
In this example loco, I chose to use the 4-40 stainless steel screws - retained to the chassis with nylon locking nuts.
As can be seen on the left side in the above picture, the factory voltage regulator device is retained in its original place for one of the screws. (Heat dissipation is reliant on the metal chassis channel.)

I then used 4-40 threaded standoffs on the protruding screws' threads in order to fasten two more discrete wheels as shown in the below picture.

The two additional wheels are retained with screws to the standoffs.


Shown below are the two groups plus two discrete wheels totaling 2 lbs.


Shown below is the reassembled loco now weighing 11.5 lbs (2 more pounds compared to the factory unit for improved traction).



Appendix - Using dual 8 wheel groups installed in example D&RGW GP40 fuel tank area

Two groups of 8 diesel wheels each also will fit between the factory weights and allow the fuel tank shell to envelope them providing the screws are flat head and the ends are cut and filed flush with the retaining nut - otherwise the fuel tank shell will interfere when attempting to install it.

Shown below are example 4 inch long 10-24 flat head screws with the protruding ends to be cut off flush with the retaining nut of an assembled wheel group (resulting in approximately 3.5 inch screw length).


Shown below are two groups of 8 recycled diesel wheels (16 total) nestled between the repositioned factory weights.

Note: It can be seen that I used the original factory screws and washers for retaining the rectangular factory weights for this installation.


The fuel tank shell will just barely fit providing the groups of wheel weights are laterally centered - including the screw / nut projections.


As shown below, the example D&RGW GP40 with all 16 recycled diesel wheels weighs the same 11.5 lbs as the example Union Pacific GP40


- End

Docksider Electronics

Understanding the stock electronics

(I intend to replace the electronics with a DCC decoder.)

There are 3 boards in the docksider. One has 4 switches, smoke, motor, sound, light.  This one will be discarded to allow a larger speaker and room to enclose the back of the speaker.

The main board has a small daughter board on it. It has a pot that works as the volume control, labeled as VR. CCW increases sound.

On the daughter board are 3 ICs. The 8 pin package is a TDA2822, which is a dual, low voltage audio amplifier by ST Microelectronics.

The other 2 ICs are EM57P300AP,  by ELAN, which are sound processors with one time programmable ROM and processor, which only need a single external transistor to drive a speaker, and have inputs to trigger the sounds. They will run at about 3 volts and need 5 volts max.

So it's clear this is the sound board for at least the bell and whistle... maybe the chuff too. I'll have to listen to the sound and see if the chuffs cut out if either the bell or whistle is sounded.

The main board has a pot VR2, of unknown function.

The unit has a hall effect chuff sensor to trigger the chuffs.

How is the sound?

The bell sounds nice, the chuffs suck, and the whistle does the same sequence every time.

Also note that USAT says that the sound system will not function over 17 volts. (!!)

Chuff issues

The system often double chuffs.

This is evident even in USAT's promotional video (see at time 3:28 )

My guess is that the magnet is triggering the hall effect sensor twice.

I think my guess is right, put a bit of ferrous metal near it, and the double chuffs stop! I will experiment to see if I can fix it by moving the hall effect sensor away from the gear that has 2 magnets on it. (This is the same gear that has the rod to make the puffs.)

Smoke unit

OK, so the next thing is to figure out the smoke unit power requirements and also the circuitry to sense the chuff magnets. 

There is a 3 pin device that senses the 2 magnets on the gear wheel that also drives the smoke piston. The wires are red, yellow and black, and go to a socket on the main board labeled "CUFF".  

I note that the wires from the magnetic sensors for the bell and whistle come up from the motor block as 3 wires each also, so I suspect they are also using hall-effect devices there.

The smoke unit has 3 leads, red, yellow and black. 

The black wire connects to one side of the heating element and a thermistor in contact with the heating element. The other side of the heating element is connected to the yellow wire. The other side of the thermistor is connected to the red wire.

The reservoir is not large, with the wick out, it will hold 1.5 cc before spilling into the hole where the air enters. I would recommend 1 cc as a good measure for a dry reservoir.